Vodafone has released an Amazing Race Australia App for iPhone and Android!! Free streaming of episodes if you're a customer for 7 days (or using Wi-Fi or 3G for non-customers) and team profiles and preview clips!! International friends may be able to use this as a way to watch our TAR!

A lucky reporter got to travel alongside the TAR teams for at least the first two legs of TARAus. Interesting!! On route to Singapore??

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News Limited reporter Alice Coster has been on her own amazing race. Coster jumped at the opportunity to follow The Amazing Race Australia on location and has shared her travel diary.

Day 1 midnight - Bali

Already a cameraman has gone missing somewhere from Bali immigration and customs - was last seen by someone in the crew escorted down a long corridor.

I can already feel the precious few hours we have for a nap before starting at sparrow's diminishing.

Day 2

6am Bali

Finally got my first proper glimpse of the contestants, worked out one of the male surfers is former Miss Universe Erin McNaught's boyfriend and his mate Tyler Atkins was with Paris Hilton. Surfers and female models already flocked together, surprise, surprise.

8:25 speed boat to Lombok

I am finally starting to feel like a normal person after a 22-hour day at the MCG and catching planes.

A lot of time is spent in transit, wondering if we will see any of the local culture or tourist spots or just the back of a vehicle with a roaring engine.

1pm - Gili Islands

Contestants swim for briefcases in the postcard-perfect deserted Gili Islands, where no motorised vehicles are allowed. Models are already imagining what shoots to do for the lad mags when the show finishes. We are not allowed to talk to the contestants during the race, only at pitstops.

Overheard one of the models saying she got botox on her forehead so the wrinkles didn't ``bunch up'' on TV.

Contestants are counting the money, not very well.

I already have a spot for the Big W's from Perth, poor ducks, they are sweating hard and look uncomfortable being carted around on cidomo carts.

Day 3

5:30am Lombok

A nasty wake-up call and at the airport, again. Just told all flights have been grounded due to volcanic ash, except Garuda. Also informed I keep accidentally getting in shot and not to keep ducking out of the way, but to just act natural and as if I was meant to be there - hello I am in the middle of nowhere and don't really fit in with the scenery.

12pm Jakarta (in transit to Singapore)

Planes, planes and more planes.

The constant to-ing and fro-ing is the most frustrating part of a trip. Bags have gone walkabout. Contestants and production crew in danger of running seriously behind schedule. This is a big deal I am told as we run from terminal to terminal. The Merapi eruption may have thrown a spanner in the works as no airlines will fly to Jakarta - except our scheduled Garuda flight, of course.

Are the any insider type video's, mat chats, etc that are available so we can see some of the behind the scenes stuff and also will the weekly episodes normally be an hour or expanded like the premiere was.

The three WA teams just appeared on Better Homes and Gardens with Grant. The teams were doing some home DIY, Chris and Anastasia built a bookcase (It looked poor), Sam and Renae built a Billy Cart (Looked great and worked) and Anne Marie and Tracy built a mosaic coffee table (Grant declared them the winners because he can't resist coffee, although the mosaic did look great.)

Another promo on the TV, but it was just Anne Marie and Tracy going through a few picture cards to help with foreign communication. The ones I saw was a picture of a toilet, a picture of a plane and a picture of a person with a question mark over their head, and arrows pointing in four directions (Apparently it means "I don't know where to go")

Reality check for relaxed Chris & AnastasiaBy David Knox on May 26, 2011

Any good Reality show needs its heroes and villains, somebody for the audience to cheer and hiss. In The Amazing Race it’s an essential ingredient for the audience.

In The Amazing Race Australia, Perth’s “Big W” ladies Anne-Marie and Tracy are emerging as early heroes, and if some press is to be believed, Sydney couple Chris and Anastasia are early villains.

Under the pressure of the race Chris dropped a remark in Monday night’s episode that “they don’t make women like they used to.”

The power of editing in such storytelling is enormous, but the US version of the show has been on air for years. It’s reasonable to assume you know what you’re in for when you apply for the show.

As the couple explain to TV Tonight, they aren’t overly familiar with the original series, but nor are they too fussed by what people think.

“I haven’t really watched too many episodes of the US,” says Anastasia, 22. “I only watched one before the audition for the Australian one.

“We saw the ad on TV and thought it would be a great adventure. We love adrenalin, so we just thought it would be a lot of fun to do.”

24 year old Chris concurs: “I saw the series back when I was about 14, but not since then.

“We’re not the kind of people to say ‘No,’ so as soon as something comes up she’ll ask and I’ll agree.”

On the show with Farmers, Surfers, Models, Workmates and Married Entrepreneurs they are branded as a “Dating” couple -but it could have been more extreme.

“A lot of the couples are very diverse. We didn’t go into it pretending to be something we weren’t but at the same time, knowing our background we thought we would be portrayed as the ‘sports couple’ or token ‘Greek couple,’” says Anastacia.

“One team called us ‘Muscles and Bambi’ and then there was ‘Fabio and the GF (GirlFriend)’ and the ‘Loved Up’ couple.

Chris is aware his temper may result in him being depicted as one of the show’s more fiery contestants. He is already generating passionate feedback in online forums.

“It’s got to make good TV one way or another. At the end of the day whatever was said was said,” he says.

“But we’re still here, still together, still strong. All is forgiven and it all remains on the Race.

“My temper always gets the better of me. It’s who I am. But it makes me say some things sometimes I don’t mean. But Anastasia knowns me a lot better than that.

“The bottom line is it doesn’t really matter what other people think.”

Neither had seen an episode prior to it airing last week, but Anastasia says while production techniques may be selective, they won’t be able to manufacture anything fake.

“They’re not going to add anything we haven’t said. So whatever you’ve actually said will be on there,” she says.

“The editing process may dramatise things, but at the end of the day it’s TV, it’s entertaining.”

“Putting people out of their norm will make good TV,” says Chris, “so people will have opinions of me and others on the show. But if you’re true to yourself and you know who you are then it doesn’t really matter if it’s one little moment or mistake you might have made.

Adds Anastasia, “We didn’t really go on the race to do anything other than have an exciting journey.”

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"I wish the world was flat like the old days, and I could travel just by folding a map."

If you don't know them, Mo and Mos are two of the contestants on the Australian version of The Amazing Race, currently screening on the Seven Network.

They're Aussie blokes, both on the largish side, who are really struggling with the physical challenges on the show. These mates are buoyed only by their shared sense of humour, self-deprecating banter, backpacks, and a couple of prayer mats.

Yep, they're Muslim, and in perhaps the most positive move for assimilation ever seen on prime-time television, they have done plenty to improve the slightly suspicious relationship that our largely secular population, until now, has had with those who follow the Muslim faith.

Yes, you can be Muslim and have a sense of humour - who knew? Jokes aside, if these two don't score jobs as radio hosts after this season finishes, I'll go hee (jab).

But The Amazing Race and Masterchef aren't the only reality shows that have entrusted us with a local version.

We're about to see our own production of Wife Swap, where two wives from vastly different households are sent to live in each others' home for a couple of weeks.

Let me guess; there will be the initial shock of the new living arrangement, followed by inevitable tears, possibly a tantrum or two, then an element of begrudging acceptance, before the follow-up visit a few weeks later, which will show both households are marginally better off for the experience. Predictable? That's why you won't find me, lover of most things reality, tuning in.

Sure, I have been a fan of the genre since 1992, when bogan Baby Boomer Noeline Baker burst on to our screens in the ABC-BBC co-production of Sylvania Waters, Australia's first taste of reality TV.

But 20 years on, I think I have become slightly more discerning. Only slightly, I am a reality tragic after all. Because even after surviving around 20-something seasons of Survivor; touring the world many times over in The Amazing Race, and thinking, "Even I could do better than that" on Project Runway, I am still strangely compelled to watch almost any group of strangers brought together to complete some kind of task.

But when it comes to translating overseas success to local dollars, sometimes more than a change of scenery is required, due to our easy-going natures.

Remember the Australian Survivor? Nope, me neither. None of the contestants made much of an impression, because they were too nice. It just wasn't the Aussie way to vocalise your every thought, to bitch and backstab, or to scheme and subvert - intrinsic elements of the game.

Our local entrants supported each other, and generally got on like a house on fire, which was good for them, but made for bad TV. Perhaps a good villain is hard to find, so if you are one, let someone know, there's obviously a shortage.

So it will be interesting to see how our Aussie wives fare in their swaps. No doubt we'll be confronted with the loudest, most outspoken type of wife to ensure the promised fireworks go off as planned.

Polite, accommodating women just won't cut it - not when there are extreme stereotypes to be had. And there are plenty - most reality shows have it down pat.

Cast a couple of hot blonde models, hot guys who'll take their shirts off, a fiery-tempered chauvinist, a couple of retirees and a typical Aussie bloke (who will either win, or end up with a role on Neighbors or Home and Away) and you've got something to appeal to most demographics.

But while many knock reality TV as a lame-brained exercise, it's not all about vacuous famewhores, as the six Aussies who signed up for the upcoming SBS three-day event (screening from June 21-23) Go Back Where you Came From can probably attest.

Chosen from 70 applicants, these average Australians with differing views on the refugee situation get to meet refugees locally, before being sent overseas.

Stripped of wallets, phones and passports, life in Iraq and the Congo takes on a whole new meaning for this group of instant Aussie refugees.

Sneak previews look fascinating, and set to challenge the entrenched perceptions we have of this difficult and emotive issue. It's an inventive use of the medium, and while I'm all for a bit of harmless competition and tearful send-offs, what's not to like about reality television that educates, informs, and challenges prejudices?

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not hanging out for the next season of The Bachelor, but with Mo and Mos setting female hearts aflutter, maybe it's time for a local version.

Amazing Race contestant Chris Pselletes has revealed that he is "disgusted" with his behavior towards girlfriend Anastasia Drimousis on the show.

Pselletes, who shocked viewers with his regular arguments with his partner on the Australian version of the reality television show, said that watching himself on TV "scared" him because he had no idea how chauvinistic and aggressive he could be towards her.

"I'm disgusted with my behavior. I'm ashamed of myself. I saw some footage of me on the show and I scared myself," he told Woman's Day magazine.

"I'm the psycho, I'm the big mouth. She's done nothing wrong. Anastasia, regardless of what people may think right now, means the world to me. I have verbally abused her and I am very apologetic. I am trying to change. I could never on purpose hurt her, physically or emotionally and if somebody else did, I would be the first person to defend her."

Pselletes also admitted that the show might be "hard" for Drimousis's parents to watch but said that he doesn't want them to think that he is "nice" to them but different "behind closed doors".

"I can't change everybody's mind about me but those two [parents] are the most important," he said. "I look into their eyes and I see a bit of disappointment. They won't tell me to my face, they are trying to be nice and keep things calm, but there is a conversation to be had and I will face that and show them I will change."

Seven have confirmed that the race does end in Perth, just for clarity.

Also noteworthy, Sam & Renae definitely make it to Singapore...

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Before they get to Perth, the teams compete in Singapore where Renae is once again forced to confront her crippling fear of heights in a 55-storey tightrope crossing. If she and Sam make it through, it would give them the advantage of racing in their home town in the final.

So Singapore is for the final three teams before they head back to Aus?